Current Position: 25.0N 86.1WGeographic Reference: 280 miles west of Key West, FLMovement: Northwestward near 6 mphOrganizational Trend: Increasing slightlyChance of Development Within the Next 48 Hours: 40 percentChance of Development Beyond 48 Hours: 60 percent

Changes from the Previous Forecast
There are no major changes.

Our Forecast
Disturbance 11 is the dominant and distinct low in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and it will soon aborb the smaller and weaker Disturbance 15. After the two combine, there is a very high level of uncertainty with regards to the track. Our thinking remains that the system will be captured by a trough to the north. This will result in an east-northeastward motion toward the Florida Peninsula or Panhandle. However, an alternative scenario is for the system to miss the trough. This would result in a more westward track toward the western Gulf. This is considered unlikely at this time.

The low level structure of the disturbance is becoming better defined and the upper winds are likely to gradually become more favorable for development. For these reasons, along with most computer models indicating development, the chance of development is 40 percent within the next 48 hours and 60 percent beyond the next 48 hours.

Expected Impacts to Land Cayman Islands: Conditions should improve as the disturbance moves away.South and Central Florida Peninsula: Squalls will continue through the next few days, with periodic heavy rain possible.Central to Southeastern Louisiana Coastal Areas: The first squalls could reach the area on Friday morning. Heavy rain is possible from Friday evening through Sunday morning. Increasing easterly winds offshore could result in tides 1-2 feet above normal by Friday morning and up to 2-4 feet above normal over the weekend.Mississippi Coast Through the Central Florida Panhandle: Squalls could reach the area by Friday evening, lasting through the weekend. Tides may increase to 1-2 feet above normal on Saturday due to increasing easterly winds offshore. Tides could increase more on Sunday, depending upon whether or not a tropical storm develops in the north-central to northeastern Gulf.

Expected Impacts to the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico
Squalls associated with the northern periphery of the disturbance could begin to impact the deepwater areas off southeastern Louisiana by Thursday night. This means that the last guaranteed full day of good flying weather for helicopter operations will likely be Thursday. Heavier squalls could begin impacting the area by Friday morning. These squalls could last through Monday.

I am happy to report that I just met with Facilities and the contractors about the new CLC space and things are moving right along. It is finally starting to look like office space and it looks like we will have a very nice suite once it is complete!!! Below is the latest time schedule update.

** Kudos to all IS Employees who have completed your current annual training! **

If you have not completed all FY12 training, please read:

As an attempt to ease the burden placed on the online training system, IS has implemented a June 30th deadline for mandatory training. Because each of you stepped up and met this deadline our customers had far less complications than years past. In the same spirit, we are once again requesting that all IS employees complete all FY12 Annual Training before June 30, 2012. We appreciate your continued support in getting this accomplished.

To check to see the status of your training, go to: http://training.utmb.edu/ and log in using your UTMB username and password. Once logged in, please respond to the survey if required to do so, then select an option on the left menu to view transcripts, assignment, or to take a course.
NOTE: If you have any additional courses assigned, or are missing any, please contact me. For technical problems with the system after reviewing the help link at the Online Training site, please contact the UTMB Help Desk.

ALL EMPLOYEES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING THEIR OWN TRAINING TRANSCRIPTS AND ENSURE THE COURSES ARE COMPLETE FOR EACH YEAR.

I just wanted to express my sincere recognition of someone that seems to always go above and beyond when helping others out. Even though I am referring to an certain instance yesterday, this is a regular occurrence in my eyes.

I was working at our ARDC data center installing new servers. I ran into some configuration issues that prevented me from getting all the servers connected to the network by the time I wanted it done by. I emailed Donna Peace and asked her to configure the ports/VLANs on the switches so that I could test connectivity back to UTMB. This is needed so we can remotely connect to the servers in order to install/configure/manage the servers. Even though she was supposed to leave at the time I emailed her, she stayed and made the configuration changes needed for me to test connectivity. She even offered to help out from home if there were any issues.

Donna always goes above and beyond when helping me out with issues. It is just my “2 cents”, but I believe that recognition is deserved in a job well done.

2012 Hurricane Prep Made Simple: A Meeting for the UTMB Community

11 a.m. Tuesday, June 5

Levin Hall Main Auditorium

June 1 brings the start of hurricane season, and preparation is the key to successfully weathering any storm. Everyone is encouraged to attend this one-hour, concise overview of UTMB’s hurricane response plan. Learn more about how decisions are made when a storm enters the Gulf, the outlook for the 2012 season, your responsibilities as an individual student or employee, and how the university will communicate with you before, during and after a storm. You’ll also have time to ask questions.

Summer is upon us and with it we have a new dress code for Information Services..

By proclamation of our great leader Ralph Farr, Vice President and Chief Information Officer; all staff are now allowed to dress down for summer.

No ties required, short sleeves are acceptable. Please use discretion when meeting with customers and dress appropriately for whatever your function is. If you are allowed to wear jeans today, then that is fine; otherwise no jeans are allowed. The same goes for sandals and shorts.

Please keep the dress professional.

If you have any questions you may respond on here or contact your supervisor.

I want to recognize Donna Peace, Mitch Negrini and Chris Martinez for the outstanding job they have done on activating the data jacks in the John Sealy OR’s for the EPIC portion of the Wiring/Rewiring Project. All data jacks for Epic Thin Clients (Anesthesia and RN) in each room are active! GREAT JOB to Donna, Mitch and Chris, I really appreciate all you have done to make this a success… Kudos to each of you!!!!

I hope this becomes the first of many informative discussions about the department. So many of you may be asking yourself why a blog, why call it the “watercooler”, what is this all about? Please take a moment and read the “about this blog” section, hopefully it will answer all your questions and set the tone for the blog.